Bio

Peggy Kozal is a partner in the Denver office of Gordon & Rees and a member of the Health Care, Privacy, Data & Cybersecurity and Employment Law practice groups. Ms. Kozal focuses her practice on healthcare regulatory and compliance matters, healthcare litigation, privacy and data security, Medicare/Medicaid certification and reimbursement, fraud and abuse, provider contracting, licensure and accreditation. She frequently represents a variety of healthcare professionals and entities, including long-term care facilities, assisted living facilities, home health agencies, hospices, federally qualified health centers, community health centers, behavioral health facilities, physician practices, medical spas, hospitals and other healthcare providers. Ms. Kozal provides legal guidance to identify critical problems and to apply compliance principles that minimize risk and promote client objectives. She also provides advice to healthcare clients in contemplated business transactions in order to structure legal, practical arrangements. As part of her work in the healthcare regulatory space, Ms. Kozal assists clients in the development and implementation of policies and procedures that are designed to reduce healthcare organizations’ vulnerability to fraud and abuse. She regularly helps clients by providing assistance in the investigation of internal complaints by potential whistleblowers and in responding to governmental investigations. Ms. Kozal also has significant experience in reimbursement disputes arising between providers and federally funded payers, as well as managed care entities. Ms. Kozal also assists healthcare clients with legal challenges arising in their day-to-day business operations. Recognizing the increased focus on efficiency, value and quality of care in the healthcare industry, Ms. Kozal advises clients in operational areas such as risk management and patient care, emergency/crisis management, incident response programs, medical staff and governance, privacy and data security, and state and federal patient confidentiality laws, including HIPAA, HITECH and 42 CFR Part 2. Ms. Kozal has defended individual and class state, local and federal employment matters, including class actions brought pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Her experience in this type of matter includes defending a high-profile class action involving more than 100,000 class members alleging that they were denied state minimum wage and overtime pay. Ms. Kozal is experienced in handling a variety of litigation matters in administrative, state and federal courts, as well as arbitration forums. Ms. Kozal has worked with employers to enforce arbitration agreements and to draft enforceable arbitration agreements. Based upon her litigation experience, she frequently counsels clients on how to minimize, control and prevent losses. She has a proven record of accurately analyzing the value of cases, settling when appropriate and trying cases where the opponent is unreasonable.